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The Relation of the Railway 

to 

Community and State -Wide 
Advertising 




ADDRESS 

BY 



HOWARD $LLIOTT 

PRESIDENT, NORTHERll PACIFIC RAILWAY 

Before the 

Oregon Development League 

In Annual Convention 

Salem, Ore, 

NOVEMBER 29, 1910 



mn s 1912 






The Relation 

of the Railway to Community and 

State -Wide Advertising 

By 
HOWARD ELLIOTT 

Oh* t f We are meeting together today to consider ways and 
w t . a means of making the State of Oregon, and the won- 
derful advantages and possibilities it possesses, 
better known to the world. Much has been accomplished since 
„ « that day, May 11, 1792, when Captain Robert Gray, in 

„. his ship "Columbia", discovered the magnificent river 

named after his sturdy little vessel. In October, 1792, 
300 years after Columbus discovered America, Lieutenant Brough- 
ton, in his ship the "Chatham" sailed up the Columbia River to 
a point where Vancouver now is ; and as you all know, the British 
Government tried to claim possession of much of this region 
because of Broughton's trip, but Captain Gray's prior crossing 
of the Columbia River Bar secured this great country for the 
United States. 

On November 6, 1805, Lewis and Clark camped at the mouth 
of the Cowlitz River on their way to the sea, and in the latter 
part of March, or early part of April, 1806, they discovered the 
Willamette. 

On March 22, 1811, Mr. Astor's ship "Tonquin" arrived 
safely at the mouth of the Columbia River, and founded the town 
of Astoria; and a land party, after intense hardships, crossed the 
country and joined the sea party at Astoria. In the latter party 
were Ramsey Crooks and John Day, a Virginia hunter, wmose 
names are familiar to all who know Oregon and its history. 

3 



In 1832, four Flathead Indians made a trip to St. Louis to 
ask about the white man's God and Bible. Two of the Indians 
died in St. Louis, and the other two expressed disappointment 
that they had only been entertained by gifts and shows, and had 
not found the Light and Book of which they were in quest. Rev. 
Samuel Parker of Middlefield, Massachusetts, heard this story, 
and was fired with the desire to carry the Light and the Book to 
the Indians of the Northwest; and he and Dr. Marcus Whitman 
set out March 14, 1835, from St. Louis, and from Liberty, Missouri, 
in May, 1835. Dr. Whitman did not go all the way on this trip, 
but Mr. Parker kept on clear through to Astoria. He makes an 
interesting statement in his journal, namely: 

"There would be no difficulty in the way of constructing 
a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. There 
is no greater difficulty in the whole distance than has al- 
ready been overcome in passing the Green Mountains 
between Boston and Albany, and probably the time may 
not be far distant when tours will be made across the 
Continent as they have been made to the Niagara Falls to 
see Nature's wonders." 

Even in that early day, there was a suggestion that a railroad 
was desirable. 

These were some of the first small beginnings of the white 

man's opening up of what is now Oregon, and it is hard today to 

realize the great courage, patience, pluck and perseverance these 

early explorers possessed, and that was shown also by the pioneers 

led by Jason Lee who settled in this beautiful Willamette Valley. 

Your gifted authoress, Mrs. Dye, tells much of the pioneer days 

of Oregon, and it is a wise and good work that she has done to set 

forth some of that early life before all of those who know about 

it have passed away. 

n - Since those early days, there has been much 

XT f, t» .£ development, but not nearly all that there 

Northern Pacific. , ,, *\ ' ., , , , ,_, * 

should be, due quite largely to lack of 

transportation facilities. 



You have honored me in asking me to speak before your body. 
The Northern Pacific has a very large interest in helping to 
develop Oregon. In February, 1872, it made its first investment 
in this state when it purchased control of the Oregon Steam Navi- 
gation Company, which operated steamers on the Columbia, 
Snake and Willamette Rivers, and which had portage railroads 
at the Dalles and Cascades. The old railroad company had to 
surrender these properties in the panic of 1873, and they became 
the foundation of what is now the Oregon Railroad & Navigation 
Company. The Northern Pacific has done business in and out of 
Portland for many years, and in 1884, it built it? line from Portland 
to Goble and there connected with its line to Tacoma, Seattle and 
on east. So, we have been with von in spirit for nearly forty years, 
and in body twenty-six years. The last five years have shown a 
greater development than in the preceding period, through our 
engaging in the enterprises known familiarly as the "North Bank 
Road"; the Oregon Trunk Line to Central Oregon; the Oregon 
Electric road in the Willamette Valley, and the United Railways 
enterprise in Washington County, in all of which projects the 
Northern Pacific has a half ownership. 

Until the recent construction of the Oregon Trunk by 
n the Great Northern and Northern Pacific, and of the 

railways projected by the Union Pacific Interests, the 
whole state of Ohio could have been placed in Central Oregon, 
and not a railroad would have touched it. The building of rail- 
roads, however, will not develop the country unless they are 
followed very promptly by those who are willing to cultivate the 
land, develop the water powers and establish mills and industries. 
I take it that the object of this meeting is to do all we can to bring 
about these results which are desired by every good citizen of 
Oregon and which are absolutely essential to the owner of tho 
railway, who has taken the risk of investing his money before 
there is any business for him to do. 

5 



r Hit n * t ^ n ^ : S reat credit is due to the courteous and 
-,, j able gentleman who is the president of the Oregon 

' Development League, Mr. Theodore B . Wilcox, and 
to the active secretary, Mr. C. C. Chapman, both of whom have 
devoted so much time and thought to welding together into one 
compact organization, all the energetic organizations throughout 
the state, with the one object in view of building up Oregon first, 
and then each particular community afterwards. Selfishness must- 
be eHminated if the best results are to be obtained, and the towns 
and cities will grow if the country back of them can be peopled 
with intelligent and industrious men and women. 

p ^ . There has been a very general movement 

n t , in the United States during the past ten 

Development and L j . A . 

m t_i- •! t^x* ^ years, toward closer co-operation among 
Publicity Effort. ' . ' , . , ,- * ,. - ■ . * 

business men, which has resulted in the 

organization of Commercial Clubs and similar associations. The 
existence of such clubs, successfully developing strength and 
efficiency in their local fields, has led to a broadening of their 
activities. The energies and the enthusiasms stirred up among 
business men by the success of co-operative effort among them- 
selves, has resulted in the organization of many County and State 
Commercial Leagues . These have taken up the work no individual 
club can do, and have awakened great interest in community, 
district and state advertising, publicity and development. 

Here in Oregon, you have a powerful League, already widely 
known because of its effective methods and the practical results 
which have followed its work of inducing the various cities and 
towns to engage in the business of making their resources and 
opportunities known to the world outside, and your work is being 
well done. 

One effect of community advertising in all parts of the United 
States, has been the increasing employment of trained, experienced 
and competent men, to specialize in this field. Co-operation 
among these specialists in industrial promotion and publicity has 
been brought about by meetings to discuss new methods of work, 
to originate new promotion plans, and for an interchange of ideas. 



With these various men and organizations, the railways are 
glad to work in harmony, for such co-operative work should yield 
good results in the development of the country. 

One difficulty that is sometimes encountered by a Commercial 
Club, or Business Association, comes from the apathy of some of 
the successful business men, who sometimes do not look with 
favor upon the work undertaken. A proper comprehension by 
all our business men of what these co-operative organizations can 
do is needed, and every one should help. The sober judgment 
of the hard-headed business man will, at times, prevent mistakes 
that may be made by the younger and more enthusiastic citizens 
in their efforts to build up their own particular town or district. 

"Fortune helps those who help themselves." The govern- 
ment can do something to help the growth of the country; the 
railway can do something, but the bulk of the real work must be 
done by the individuals, and they must not expect some outside 
power and influence to solve their problems for them. The great 
commercial centers of this country, and particularly the active, 
growing cities of the Pacific Northwest, recognize this fact, and 
show their appreciation of it by their vigorous efforts for their own 
development and advancement. 

Community advertising is now a tested business, known to be 
productive of results in permanent additions to population, both 
in the town and country, and in larger production, and buying 
power. A merchant can add to his profits by joining heartily in 
the work of those who are trying to develop the whole State. 
Every business man has a deep interest in the good of his commu- 
nity, which is not visionary or sentimental, but measureable in 
dollars and cents. To credit him with prudence is but to express 
in other words the thought that his duty is to join in such work 
and assist it. 

R The old saying is that " Advertising Pays." 

R This should be amended to read that "Wise 

Advertising of Good Things Pays." There 
is a great difference between the booster and the boomer. The 
boomer may not have the right article to advertise, and although 

7 



^ 



sincerely enthusiastic, the extravagant language of his advertising 
will not produce the results which follow wise, well planned, and 
conservative publicity and promotion campaigns. The boomer 
is too apt to consider only the immediate effects of his efforts, not 
caring for any damage that may flow from his mis-guided energy. 
The booster builds on proven facts, not only for the present, 
but for the future, and he does not undertake to exploit an article 
or a situatk>n unless it is worthy. When he has such a condition, 
his advertising will consist of truthful statements of conditions 
that can stand the closest analysis. Advertising, resting upon 
such a wise basis, will need no apologies or explanations, for the 
future will prove that in preparing it, less than the full truth was 
told, rather than more. 

^ »^ a j ^ • The earlier forms of advertising had 

Community Advertising, , , ..,.,, ,. . ■* . 

~ tvt~„, t?~ ~* a m~a to do with the creation of markets 

a New Form of Applied . 

, - . and sales for specific commodities 

Salesmanship. , ^ T _ .. x1 

in general use. In Pompeii, the 

dead walls still show a crude form of display advertising, calling 
the attention of the passer-by to the arguments of the vendor, 
and very recent discoveries prove that this form of publicity was 
used for political advertising in ward elections. 

The essential purpose of an advertisement, to obtain attention, 
create an interest, and produce a desire to follow suggestion, 
although in a primitive way, was evident in this ancient adver- 
tising. In the earlier business history in this country, commercial 
advertising had not freed itself entirely from the crudities of 
Pompeii. The advertising of today is different, and is applied to 
the creation of markets for new and previously unthought-of 
goods. It follows the course pioneered by Jay Cooke when he 
first undertook the sale of government bonds, which he placed 
through a publicity campaign, and is becoming in this present 
day a recognized method of placing securities. Hardly a com- 
mercial business is without some assistance from it. It helps to 
secure travel for railways; to sell lands; to people new country; 
to influence public opinion on great national questions, and is 
even a great party weapon in our national political campaigns. 



With more scientific knowledge of business ' forces, has come a 
more intelligent, accurate and thorough understanding and 
application of the principles of advertising, publicity and pro- 
motion. Advertising in itself is founded upon only a limited 
number of basic principles, and has no established rules or tech- 
nique, recognized by all advertising men in common, except as 
their experience teaches them the value of a few rules found to 
be desirable. These, however, are broad in their application, and 
the manner in which they are applied depends almost wholly upon 
the knowledge of humanity, and the judgment and discretion of 
the individual who applies them to his purposes, and upon the 
amount of money that he can use. Advertising is used and 
misused, and much bad advertising occurs, not because adver- 
tising as a business method does not pay, but because a better, 
more experienced and more intelligent advertising man is needed. 
The past quarter-century in the United States has witnessed 
the highest development advertising has received in any country, 
and in community advertising this progress has been especially 
noticeable. 

t%. ^ . ^ a j ^. . ^ The railways must of necessity devote 
District Advertising , ^ \. f. . 

by the Community. =»"* attentl ° n t0 . "Wabon . and 
development advertising as distinguished 

from the advertising which produces passenger business. 

The work of rural development cannot be done by the town 
or the railway alone. It is necessary that each community, so 
largely dependent upon the country back of it, join with the 
railway in encouraging the growth of business and industries; in 
attracting experienced agriculturalists, and increasing the number 
of successful farmers within its trade zone. 

A greater agricultural population tends to hasten the con- 
struction of better roads; the extension of rural mail delivery; 
the development of local telephone lines, and to bring a general 
improvement in all of the conditions surrounding country life. 
No reputation is better than that which provokes the remark 
"Blankville is a good Town." Good towns do not develop until 
the surrounding territory furnishes the business. Good towns lo 

9 



not develop unless the old-timers welcome the new-comers, and 
hold out to them a helping hand. The investment that may be 
made by a town in advertising the country tributary to it, is 
one of the best that can be made. The distribution of such 
advertising matter can be aided by the railways. Publications 
issued by local communities avoid the criticism to which a railway 
is subject if it favors one community as against another. 

The Railway's' Interest The R + ailway ^ as ° necf the L?°f ers 
in Community and m natlon ^ rivetosmg. Its busi- 

State-Wide Advertising. " es * "♦ ,, t * earty recognized 

that it could best sell the service 

which is its only commodity, by creating public interest in its 
territory, its facilities, the commercial centers it reached and the 
scenic and other attractions of the country adjacent to its lines. 
The earlier idea of railway advertising, that it was an agency 
chiefly valuable in influencing travel, has given way to a broader 
application of its principles to problems which the railway faces, 
and it is regarded now, not alone as an aid to passenger business, 
but as a powerful help in the settlement of agricultural districts, 
in the development of industries where they are needed and in 
other work which promotes the progress of cities, districts and 
states. 

Many people do not understand how energetically or how 
steadily and continuously the advertising and publicity work of 
a great railway system is prosecuted. Railway advertising is 
necessarily unlike community advertising, for the railway repre- 
sents not one, but many communities, with similar claims and 
advantages. The railway must not deal more generously with 
one city than another, or with one district than another. If it 
does it is justly subject to criticism. Its interest in each of the 
States it serves is equal and its energies must be fairly apportioned. 

Upon the Northern Pacific Railway, the advertising effort is 
not confined wholly to the Passenger and Advertising Depart- 
ments, but includes other work as well, which is continuously 
and energetically prosecuted. The Immigration Department is 
concerned chiefly with attracting settlers and business men to 

10 



Northern Pacific territory. It has a staff of fifteen men, per- 
manently employed, who handle 50,000 different inquiries from 
interested persons each year. They distribute annually nearly 
300,000 copies of 175 different kinds of literature. It maintains 
an exhibit car filled with the products of the different States in 
which the railway has lines, and has two other traveling exhibits, 
in addition to permanent agricultural displays in various cities. 

In the Advertising Department are handled the details of 
compiling and publishing advertising booklets, leaflets and mis- 
cellaneous matter, of which very large quantities are used, of 
preparing time-tables and folders for the use of the public, and of 
creating, by means of extensive advertising in newspapers, farm 
journals, magazines and other publications, a demand for infor- 
mation concerning the regions which the railway traverses. 
Through practically all of the railway's display advertising, runs 
an undercurrent of development and immigration argument. 
The advertisement which tells of train service, tells as well of the 
opportunities for fruit-growing, farming and other activities in 
that territory the trains reach. The advertising of cities and 
districts, directs the business man's attention to the opportunities 
Western cities afford. 

During 1910 there has been issued from this department, 23 
different publications to induce immigration, to the total number 
of 727,500 copies, all of which were required to meet the demands 
of the public at large. During the year, display advertising was 
used in 12 of the leading newspapers of Europe with gratifying 
success, and through this means, information of the opportunities 
and resources of the West was given to a large number of people 
in Europe. Sets of beautifully colored lantern slides have been 
extensively circulated in this country and Great Britain, giving 
many thousands an opportunity to see for themselves, the beauty 
and productiveness of various districts in these States. From 
the display advertising done during the year, the number of 
inquiries received has reached as high as 610 per day, and this 
does not include those received by the Immigration Department 
and referred to a moment ago. 

11 



But this is not all the railway does in helping to develop the 
territory it serves. During the past year, the Northern Pacific 
Railway Company has taken an active part in the Dry Farming 
Congress, the National Apple Show, the National Irrigation 
Congress, and in many other meetings held for the purpose of 
making the best use of the country. It, in common with other 
Railway Companies, believes that the spreading of information 
that will help to improve agricultural methods, is of benefit to 
the whole country, and incidentally to the railway. 

The officers of the railway would like to take part in more of 
these meetings, but so much of their time is taken up before 
Courts and Railway Commissions defending their properties, and 
explaining conditions, that opportunity to participate with you 
in such work is seriously curtailed. 

For two months this year, this Company operated a Better 
Farming Special Train through three of the Western States, the 
Agricultural College of each State furnishing instructors and 
various appliances. Similar work has been done by other Railway 
Companies, and nearly all are endeavoring to help Experimental 
Farms, and to co-operate with the Agricultural Colleges in im- 
proving the methods of farming, and in trying to make life on the 
farm more attractive. In North Dakota, several hundred school 
children recently completed a contest in the production of corn, 
potatoes and strawberries; the State furnished the seed and the 
plants, the winner received one week's instruction at the State 
Agricultural College, and the Northern Pacific Railway Company 
gave to the winning children, transportation to and from school. 

« .i_m.^. r j-i - Advertising has passed the experimental 

Responsibility of the ^ /, , , . 

A . . stage, and has become a business re- 

quiring skill, imagination and discretion. 
There is a very great responsibility upon the man who uses up ink 
and paper for development advertising, and upon the writer who 
is furnishing information for the use of farmers and business men. 
A community that is over exploited, hurts itself, and the plain, 
simple truth intelligently told, without extravagant adjectives, 
is the best advertising, for the man who is attracted by it and 

12 



proves to be better pleased than he thought, becomes a booster 
for the country. 

T - One form of advertising which re-acts and has 

~ . . a very serious effect in the development of 

* this great Pacific Northwest, is the advertis- 
ing of the land boomer who is trying to get an excessive profit 
in handling real estate of one kind and another. The man who 
leaves his home in the Middle West or the East and acquires a 
farm or property because he has been influenced by extravagant 
or even false statements, and pays an unfair price for the land, 
counteracts a great deal of the good advertising that is done by 
those who are sincerely trying to build up the State, and are 
working for its development. 

For the farmer to succeed, he must not have too heavy interest 
and overhead charges, and speculation in land should be curtailed, 
so far as it is possible to do so, by an intelligent public opinion. 
It should be remembered that the new settler, who succeeds and 
is satisfied, is the very best Immigration Agent. 

j - There is an old saying that "What is Everybody's 

„ . Business is Nobody's Business." Of late years in 

the United States, everybody, and that is the 
people at large, through their Legislatures, and Commissions and 
Bureaus, have been undertaking to regulate and manage in detail, 
some of the larger forms of business, particularly the railways, 
which are so much needed for a proper development of the Western 
States, and of Oregon especially. The result is that the people 
whose real business it is to manage the railway, namely: the 
owners and the men they employ, are becoming discouraged by 
being interfered with constantly, and there is danger that this 
interference will produce a condition where the railway business 
is nobody's business. 

The good sense of the American people will probably make 
them realize the situation before it is too late, but a great body 
of intelligent men, like the Oregon Development League, should 
consider whether it is wise to go on indefinitely attacking the 
transportation business, and whether it is not better to let th6se 

13 



who own it, and the trained men who have grown up in the 
business, manage it instead of turning that management over to 
others. 

Some of the Western States, and particularly Oregon, have 
felt that the so-called conservation movement has gone too far, 
and that too much valuable territory has been tied up by govern- 
mental order made by some one far off, who was not in a position 
to understand the real necessities and conditions of this growing 
West of ours. Any unwise and unjust action of this kind has had 
a repressing effect in the development of the country, and similar 
arbtirary and unwise action by Legislatures, Commissions, and 
various Bureaus, that affect the initiative and the right of the 
owner of property to manage his own business, will have the 
same repressing effect. 

In addition to advertising the State and its resources, I suggest 
that the Oregon Development League exert its influence so that 
the United States and the investing world will understand and 
believe the fact that in Oregon a dollar wisely invested is safe, 
and that the laws of the Nation and of the State will permit the 
owner to keep the dollar, earn a fair return upon it, and make a 
reasonable profit, if he uses ordinary common sense, industry and 
intelligence. 

T < With the wonderful resources that this State has; 

„ with the coming transportation lines in the interior, 

coupled with the feeling that life and property are 
absolutely secure, there is no reason why the development in 
Oregon in the next twenty years will not far surpass all of the 
development up to the present time. 

The four simple Indians who traveled half way across the 
Continent in 1832 to obtain the Light and the Book, from the 
East, are gone, but we of the Pacific Northwest have a mission 
in carrying the Light of this great country of promise, and the 
Book that tells about it, back to the Mississippi Valley, and to 
our friends on the Atlantic Coast. 



14 



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